KIDNEY, ANYONE? One-Owner 1973 Mazda RX-3 in Puerto Rico

If you’ve got a spare $45,000 lying around, there’s a 1973 Mazda RX-3 with your name on it. According to the seller, this is a fully documented one-owner coupe from a museum, though that “museum” appears to be part of a Puerto Rican shopping mall containing at least one Zara clothing store.

In any case, this Phoenix Blue specimen appears to be original and photographs well. As rotary shoppers are all to familiar with, this Mazzer comes with two mileages — one for the chassis (71,000) and one for the engine (11,000).

Before pulling the trigger you might want to clarify whether that’s the original engine rebuilt or a replacement Wankel. Due to their adeptness as drag racing platforms, bone stock early rotaries are exceedingly rare. Still, $45,000 for a non-numbers matching example seems a bit steep, beautiful as it may be.

I don’t know if he would get that price. I’m glad to see that there are still some un-molested classic Japanese cars out there. And looks like there is a steady trend of price increases on our beloved classics. I’m just thankful that I got into this hobby very early on (since 1984) when parts and these kind of cars were still plentiful and still affordable. I’m also thankful that I already own the cars of my dreams (two TE27, LEVIN’s and a numbers matching 1972 Trueno Sprinter).

I’m the kind of gentleman who would pay top dollar for a top-shelf car. As tidy a specimen as that is – $45k is right out.

Realistically I could see $15k, up to $25k if it got in a bidding war.

The engine rebuild is an interesting point – from a practical standpoint you’re buying a fresh engine that will have that much more life. However from a collector perspective it sadly devalues the car quite a bit. I do have to wonder though – 60k and they popped the engine?

Someone obviously did NOT perform regular maintenance on that car. And, as a one-owner car, guess who that was? The current owner, who has now put another 10k un-cared for miles on their “fresh” engine.

In Japan I’m sure that would reach its asking price if it was what it is presented as. Remember, this is the car that ended the unstoppable onslaught of the mighty Hakosuka. Crazy Mazda came up with an original idea that nobody said would work well enough, ran with it, and slew giants. People respect that and I’m sure will pay good money for it.

A 240ZG will get around that mark in any shape, and an original looking Z will get up there too.

In Australia I’m sure there’d be a few bites for 45k. I’ve heard of a few offers being thrown around the 240Z world for the 40k mark too.

Plain and simple; if everyone wants their Japanese Nostalgics to rise in value, they can’t cry murder when someone asks British/American classic prices for their (better in every way!) Japanese classic.

Those prices are pretty common in Australia for good cars. Unfortunately the demand has been created by greedy non Mazda enthusiast investors. The one car that will probably get close to it’s asking price will be the Rx3 coupe. The other 2 cars, the owners are dreaming. You can never go wrong with an Rx3 Coupe in Australia. Being RHD helps their values to the home market as well.